Book Club Discussion Questions for 'Red Sparrow' by Jason Matthews

In honor of the new J.Law movie coming out soon, we read the book Red Sparrowby Jason Matthews and now we're ready to get a discussion going! If you haven't read the book, but still want to see the movie, here are free tickets to a pre-screening on 2/22 (update: tickets are now SOLD OUT). Onto the q's:

Like many novels, this book is a male author's portrayal of a female character. Were there times in the book where this was obvious? Or did Matthews accurately capture a woman's point-of-view?

The author is a retired CIA officer (served for 33 years!). Did you know that while reading the book? If not, does it change how you view the story?

Let's make a pop culture comparison: this book reminded us a lot of FX's The Americans. If you watch the show, what do you think were the major similarities and differences behind these two portrayals of Russian spies?

The recipes between each chapter were an interesting literary technique. What purpose do you think they served? .....also, we're hungry....is there a recipe you remember and want to try?

This book takes place in present day. Do you think Americans and Russians are still actively spying on each other/recruiting/honey trapping?